Five Radical Ideas for Saving Hallmark Stores

Apple Store 

A critic of Apple's move to open bricks-and-mortar retail stores once famously said, "I give them two years before they're turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake." Of course Apple proved the naysayers wrong and are now the most successful retail story of the last 20 years. Not only are their stores cult destinations for Apple fans, they are also the most profitable retail stores per square foot in America. Other retailers that blend great brand experiences with profit includes Coach and Lululemon Athletica. As Business Insider notes, four of the six most profitable retails stores are also on the fastest growing list. Their success certainly makes sense. But how did they accomplish it?


Let's use Apple as an example. First, they rightfully looked past their retail and technology competitors. They based none of their retail positioning or experience on Best Buy, Comp USA or others. Remember, the "prudent" plan would have been to compete with the big box stores that were the market leaders, and incredibly successful at the time.


Second, they looked not at the then current user of Apple products, but rather at the huge potential audience. They then reinforced their brand by modeling their experience after their product: clean, fresh and intuitive. 


Third, they kept the retail footprint small, allowing them to enter higher traffic, more "upscale" developments. 


Finally, they created the entire in-store experience to connect with their online experience. The Genius Bar is the human face of their online support.

Hallmark Gold Crown Store

This brings us to Hallmark, the grand dame of the greeting card industry. They are the industry leader and a near universally known brand. They are sporting a newly refreshed tagline, Life is a Special Occasion. Life is indeed a special occasion, but why does a visit to a Hallmark store make me feel decidedly not special? In fact, most Hallmark stores make me feel downright dreadful. Judging by the declining sales and changing demographic trends, I am certainly not alone. A November 2011 Los Angeles Times article explains away a lot of it as lost sales to online business. But to shore up that business while growing their specialty product business having a physical retail presence has never been more important. So, how can Hallmark use fresh retail thinking to salvage their eroding retail business? 


First a few facts. In a Retail Info Systems News article, Hallmark says that it has over 4,000 principle stores called Gold Crown, 500 of which are owned by the company and  the rest are franchise operations. The real revenue is generated from the 43,000 other outlets that sell their greeting cards and gifts, from Walmart to gas stations. This accounts for an estimated $4.1 billion in revenue annually. The greeting card industry is facing a monumental consumer shift as fewer cards are mailed and people move to more electronic and social media for celebrating major "life events." Hallmark has some very smart people tackling these issues around how to keep Hallmark relevant in the 21st Century. But as they innovate with product, they seem to be neglecting arguably the most important part of their brand experience, the store. 


As their retail experience has languished, it has reached a point where a fresh coat of paint or a new retail end cap will not do it. Hallmark retail needs a radical makeover. One that will reposition them for the future and highlight their product innovation in the proper way. 
Here are five ideas to kick start that process. 


1. Stores as Brand Tool: Recognize that the Gold Crown Stores, especially the company owned ones,  are primarily a brand marketing tool. Launch a "blue sky" rename and rebrand of these stores to  position the brand well beyond its current perception. Think uncluttered, fresh and contemporary. Let the product be the pop of color. Rethink the signage and overall look and feel and approach it from a fashion, art and design direction.


2. Smaller and Higher Profile: Move to smaller retail footprints in high traffic, urban and power centers. Open up the exteriors to be primarily glass and corner activated. This will compel the casual visit and generate a higher pass-through volume.  


3. Curate Product Content: The trend of "buy local" continues to grow and evolve. Hallmark should serve as the leader in providing the best in emotional messaging. This goes beyond their own creative materials. In fact, Hallmark already has an entire trend department dedicated to tracking and recording trends within their industry. Instead of identifying what products in the marketplace are competitors and then attempting to counter them, Hallmark experts should be hand-selecting cards, posters and gifts that are designed and made locally in each market to feature in their stores. This would allow them to bring the latest trends to the consumer faster and better reinforce their new tagline and campaign theme that "Life is a special occasion," challenging consumers to stop and enjoy life's perfectly imperfect, unplanned moments. 

4. Idea Think Tanks: As local bookstores continue to struggle, Hallmark has the ability to capture a portion of the "third place" for social gathering that is being lost. These newly minted Hallmark stores should work to host creative events that are in fitting with their brand promise. Become a place for writers and poets. Highlight their work and engage them in how their art directly ties to the Hallmark vision. Some stores should consider having a coffee shop as well.


5. Social Media Connectors: Each store should then activate a localized online "Genius Bar" of sorts by becoming the local hub via bricks-and-mortar and social media for celebrations. Both in the store and online, the staff of that store will be dedicated to proactive management of customer relationships. Guide customers to in-store product and various online product via Hallmark.


The above ideas are simply those of a brand and retail marketing expert who loves Hallmark. I am looking from the outside and crafting suggestions as an example of how a large retail brand could (and should) reshape how they operate in order to be more relevant in the future.


Feel free to share your feedback here or better yet, mail me a Hallmark card.


      

Rockhill Recommends: Googlization

I took the time last night to attend a lecture at the Linda Hall Library on Google's impact on the Internet and our culture. More on that in a second.

First a brief shout out to the Linda Hall Library. It is one of the leading science, engineering and technology libraries in the World. 

The information they have archived, and the role they are playing in current innovation cannot be underestimated.

I would also recommend that you visit their latest exhibit, This Time It's Personal: Innovation In Your Home. From Aspirin to the light switch to Pez Candy, it covers the research, discovery, development and intellectual property of things we use every day.  

The opening speaker in support of the new exhibit was Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media and law at the University of Virginia. His talk was in support of his current book, The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry). He has a supporting website as well here. This post is not a review of the lecture or a commentary on the book. That will come later after I have had a chance to read the book and do some research. I would however, recommend that everyone take some time and check out a bit more about his thoughts on Google. 

Siva does a nice job of summarizing the incredible role that Google has played in our lives in the 13 years (yes, it has actually been that long) since its founding at Stanford in 1998. Early on the mission was simple, but oh so lofty...

Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

He raises the valid question of why we should trust Google with this and how they have delivered.
Why this task shouldn't be entrusted to the academic institutions and librarians of the World.
Google determines how important search results are via their algorithms and he provides examples of Google modifying results for various reasons in spite of their claim that they do not alter search results. Some are for generally altruistic reasons such as a racist website "gaming" the results to get higher placement. He questions why we, as consumers accept this. Generally, it is because we don't know.

It is comforting to know that Google doesn't remove information. In that respect they really do attempt to archive all of the World's information. However, as a writer and researcher, I do find that you need even sharper personal analytical skills when working online.

He also offers a few other tidbits of insight that are worth considering:

• We are not Google's customers. The advertisers are. Google only views us as customers so far as they need us to keep eyeballs on their site to sell to advertisers. 
• As technology consumers we generally are willing to accept technology as magic and not explore how a product or service works. Companies such as Apple and Google benefit from this. 
• Google fundamentally transformed the Internet for the better by working to filter out pornographic results that were served via spam or due to typographical error. This work to make the Internet safer for business and family use helped to also make the consumer feel safer about using the Internet for their financial needs.
• When you use Google you are seeing the world through their lense. It is filtered. 
• Google may be radically different in five years and may not even exist in ten. That is the type of technology world we live in.

Overall, Mr. Vaidhyanathan offered some great perspectives on the good and bad of Google. The questions that he poses are easily applicable to many other communications channels, social media et cetera. 

What he did not discuss is the rapidly expanding technology channels that Google is moving toward. For instance, I am typing this using Google Chrome browser. Google has mobile technology, hardware with Chrome Book and is developing a one-gigabyte Google Fiber technology in Kansas City. It is currently being installed outside my office window.

(Update) Google now has also opened a retail pop up store in London as reported by The London Evening Standard. This could be the direct assault on Apple that many have anticipated. The fundamental difference is, if Google is successful in hardware and retail sales, they will also possess an incredible wealth of content and the means of distribution.  

I look forward to exploring these more and sharing thoughts with my readers here. 

Possibly the most cogent and interesting comment was when he likened Google to Julius Caesar. A benevolent dictator who does indeed improve life for many but at what cost?